The Mike Portnoy Appreciation/Discussion Thread (merged)

[ytserush]

Not taking sides at all, but this whole issue about them not being in contact is so overblown, I am tiring of reading about it. One dude doesn't want to be "in contact" with another, it's not the end of the world guys. Life is too short to be holding grudges (I cannot say one way or the other if anyone is), but it's also too short to worry about "patching things up" when there is no reason to.

It's really funny, and I feel like I'm in the minority in feeling this way.  I realize being in a band is not like a regular job, but I've had three "real" jobs in my adult life: the first two for about 13 years each, and the current for nearly 7.  I just don't keep in any sort of regular contact with folks from the first two jobs -- not because of animosity, but just because.  I therefore find it very hard to care all that much about whom MP does and doesn't keep in contact with.

That makes sense.  There would not be much of an opportunity to cross paths. So it's not a Jordan situation either.

[TAC]

I agree. I have worked for the same company for 30 years, and when I get transferred, I don't stay in touch with people from my last store.

[Fritzinger]

MP posted on Twitter that there's a 'Prog from Home' music event from Prog Report next Saturday that includes a lot of artists - JR, Neal Morse, Eric Gillette, Steve Hackett, Nick D'Virgilio, and many more. Excited to see what they've all come up with.

Very excited for this! I wonder what they'll perform. It will be interesting to see if this is live or pre-recorded like the Global Citizen concert, which was pretty cool!

[Fritzinger]

It looks like the mystical album is this one:

Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy & Randy George are pleased to announce their return to the Cover To Cover series of albums with ‘Cov3r To Cov3r’, the brand new third instalment. Featuring their renditions of classic tracks by the likes of King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Gerry Rafferty, David Bowie & more (including their cover of ‘No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed’ featuring vocals from Yes singer Jon Davison), the album will be released on the 24th July as CD, Gatefold 2LP + CD & as Digital Album.
As well as this, the ‘Cover To Cover Anthology (Vol. 1 – 3)’ will be re-leased on the same day, collecting all 3 instalments together over 3 discs. The first two albums have also been newly re-sequenced and remastered, and will also be available on all digital services. All the albums have also been given brand new artwork, created by Thomas Ewerhard (Sons of Apollo, The Neal Morse Band, Avantasia).
Mike Portnoy comments: “Well, here we are...Cover To Cover Volume 3! Been looking forward to finally doing another one of these as I absolutely love the first two we did!
In fact, these Cover To Cover albums are some of my favorite albums in my catalog and are always the CDs I give to family and friends to enjoy.
Mainly because they help show the music that helped shape myself, Neal and Randy. Everybody expects the obvious Prog classics (or in my case some of the more metal stuff), but the range of artists on these Cover To Cover albums as just as important ingredients!
I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as we did recording them!
MP 2020”

[Adami]

More covers? Eh.

I love MP, but the sheer amount of repetition he's doing creatively really is starting to feel like a rut. Hope I'm wrong and I'm sure most people here and hsi other fans will go nuts for this project, so I'm sure it'll be enough of a success.

[DTA]

More covers? Eh.

I love MP, but the sheer amount of repetition he's doing creatively really is starting to feel like a rut. Hope I'm wrong and I'm sure most people here and hsi other fans will go nuts for this project, so I'm sure it'll be enough of a success.

Yeah, not trying be an ass, but is there really a lot of demand for entire albums of covers?

[HOF]

I don’t know if it’s a rut so much as something they can do quickly and cheaply and make a little money while having some fun. It’s not as if it’s distracting from him making original music in his billion other projects. That said I’ve never been compelled to seek out the other two and I probably won’t get this one either.

[Bolsters]

That's some Hugh Syme level artwork there.

[romdrums]

That's some Hugh Samey level artwork there.

FTFY. 

[Stadler]

Speaking of...

Eleven songs.  Eleven "images".

Top Left (photo):  Squeeze - Black Coffee In Bed
Center Left (sign): Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street
Mid Top Left (guitar): Tom Petty - Running Down A Dream
Center Top (Anakin): David Bowie - Life On Mars
Right (band photo):  ?
Lower Mid Left (Star): Ringo Starr - It Don't Come Easy
Lower Left (chess board):  Yes - No Opportunity Necessary...
Center Bottom (rug/stand):  ?
Mid Bottom Near Right (finger with nail):  Badfinger - Baby Blue
Mid Bottom Center Right (flute): Jethro Toe - Hymn 43
Mid Bottom Far Right (red crown): King Crimson - One More Red Nightmare

So... how do Tempted and Let Love Rule fit?   Do I have the crown wrong, and that's Let Love Rule (then the band picture could be One More Red Nightmare, reminiscent of the black and white "Red" artwork)?   But how does Tempted fit? 

[TAC]

So..cover album? Seriously?

[cramx3]

Color me uninterested.  But seriously.... why?  He's got two different cover albums coming out now?  One wasn't enough?

[MirrorMask]

But one is ass and balls  this one is more proggy! 

[goo-goo]

I just hope there are no more covers in the Transatlantic album. Would rather hear shorter and original TA songs for a bonus disc or something.

[gmillerdrake]

More covers? Eh.

I love MP, but the sheer amount of repetition he's doing creatively really is starting to feel like a rut. Hope I'm wrong and I'm sure most people here and hsi other fans will go nuts for this project, so I'm sure it'll be enough of a success.

I'm with ya. I know he says what he's really happy with what he's doing and I'm honestly happy for him if that's the case. The guy has earned it I suppose and I'm sure h e's doing fine financially.  But, outside of his TNMB albums....near every other album is like watching Michael Jordan go down the court....take off from the free throw line....then do a finger roll lay up. I don't want to watch Michael Jordan do a lay up.....I want the creative JAM. Same with MP. His talent is wasted in endeavors like this IMO. His bread and butter is prog and creativity which he seems to have no interest in any longer.

[TAC]

His interest seems to be just putting out product.

[425]

I'm not that interested in covers in general. I don't mind them occasionally as part of an album of mostly-original content, but I'm not likely to ever seek out a whole album of covers—not even for an artist I really like (I never bothered with the first two albums in this series, or the DT official bootlegs for MOP, TNOTB or DSOTM).

That said, as HOF said, it seems like something they enjoy and I can't imagine it taking anywhere near as much time as an album of originals, so more power to them if that's what they want to do.

[gmillerdrake]

I'm not that interested in covers in general.

I'm not interested in them from 'professionals'  I like local cover bands because honestly they typically sound pretty good and have a good time with it. I just don't 'get' professional musicians covering other pro's.

[HOF]

I'm not that interested in covers in general. I don't mind them occasionally as part of an album of mostly-original content, but I'm not likely to ever seek out a whole album of covers—not even for an artist I really like (I never bothered with the first two albums in this series, or the DT official bootlegs for MOP, TNOTB or DSOTM).

That said, as HOF said, it seems like something they enjoy and I can't imagine it taking anywhere near as much time as an album of originals, so more power to them if that's what they want to do.

The other thing worth considering is these guys have bills to pay. Their livelihood is in pumping out material to their dedicated but still small fan base. Some musicians have second jobs (or full time day jobs) to make ends meet. Heck, several of the guys in Spock’s Beard have a side band that does covers at weddings and birthday parties and stuff. MP probably does alright because he has a relatively high profile and tours a ton, but I’m sure it’s still somewhat like how a shark has to keep moving to breath. You have to find ways to keep the revenue coming in.

[Cool Chris]

I don't mean this as a shot at Mike, because it isn't just him, but I really hate when people misspell something or otherwise much around with the letters/grammar. Is writing it' Cov3r to Cov3r' in any way creative, humorous, or otherwise noteworthy? I mean, yeah, it's 3 guys, but changing the Es to 3s is so juvenile. It's LiKe wHeN PeoPle WriTe LiKe tHiS on social media.

Even worse when businesses do this. "What should we name our restaurant? We cook with copper pots and pans, so let's change the C to a K in Copper and call it the Kopper Kitchen!" It just annoys me.

[Adami]

I'm not that interested in covers in general. I don't mind them occasionally as part of an album of mostly-original content, but I'm not likely to ever seek out a whole album of covers—not even for an artist I really like (I never bothered with the first two albums in this series, or the DT official bootlegs for MOP, TNOTB or DSOTM).

That said, as HOF said, it seems like something they enjoy and I can't imagine it taking anywhere near as much time as an album of originals, so more power to them if that's what they want to do.

The other thing worth considering is these guys have bills to pay. Their livelihood is in pumping out material to their dedicated but still small fan base. Some musicians have second jobs (or full time day jobs) to make ends meet. Heck, several of the guys in Spock’s Beard have a side band that does covers at weddings and birthday parties and stuff. MP probably does alright because he has a relatively high profile and tours a ton, but I’m sure it’s still somewhat like how a shark has to keep moving to breath. You have to find ways to keep the revenue coming in.

I agree, but how much income does this even provide? Unless they tour it to decent sized crowds, this release won't generate any substantial income for them. That's why so many bands tour 24/7, because record sales bring in so little, and those are bands with a huge following. MP's 2nd cover album of the year ain't gonna bring in a ton. I'd be surprised if it does more than offset the price of making it.

[HOF]

I'm not that interested in covers in general. I don't mind them occasionally as part of an album of mostly-original content, but I'm not likely to ever seek out a whole album of covers—not even for an artist I really like (I never bothered with the first two albums in this series, or the DT official bootlegs for MOP, TNOTB or DSOTM).

That said, as HOF said, it seems like something they enjoy and I can't imagine it taking anywhere near as much time as an album of originals, so more power to them if that's what they want to do.

The other thing worth considering is these guys have bills to pay. Their livelihood is in pumping out material to their dedicated but still small fan base. Some musicians have second jobs (or full time day jobs) to make ends meet. Heck, several of the guys in Spock’s Beard have a side band that does covers at weddings and birthday parties and stuff. MP probably does alright because he has a relatively high profile and tours a ton, but I’m sure it’s still somewhat like how a shark has to keep moving to breath. You have to find ways to keep the revenue coming in.

I agree, but how much income does this even provide? Unless they tour it to decent sized crowds, this release won't generate any substantial income for them. That's why so many bands tour 24/7, because record sales bring in so little, and those are bands with a huge following. MP's 2nd cover album of the year ain't gonna bring in a ton. I'd be surprised if it does more than offset the price of making it.

Maybe not much more, but the overhead is probably pretty low. It’s all done at Neal’s studio (or the various home studios even), maybe you have to pay someone to master it, pay for artwork, printing is probably a fraction of the cost. It’s not like a record company gets a cut. Say they sell two thousand at $15 a pop, and half of that is production cost ($15,000) and they split the profit three ways, that’s a quick $5K each. Not sure it would even cost that much to make (though maybe they don’t sell two thousand either).

[Adami]

They don't get $15 per sale. I dunno how they plan on selling it, but unless people go directly to them to buy it, then a lot of other people in the way are going to be collecting first. Bands usually walk away with a few cents per album.

[bosk1]

I don't mean this as a shot at Mike, because it isn't just him, but I really hate when people misspell something or otherwise much around with the letters/grammar. Is writing it' Cov3r to Cov3r' in any way creative, humorous, or otherwise noteworthy? I mean, yeah, it's 3 guys, but changing the Es to 3s is so juvenile.

It's not because it's 3 guys.  It's because this is volume 3.  Which, while I get what you are saying, makes it understandable, at least in my mind.

[HOF]

They don't get $15 per sale. I dunno how they plan on selling it, but unless people go directly to them to buy it, then a lot of other people in the way are going to be collecting first. Bands usually walk away with a few cents per album.

I’m assuming it’s going to be sold through Radiant, which is Neal’s own label and website. If they sell it on Amazon or to other outlets I’m sure the cut would be smaller, but I’m guessing a good portion of Morse’s fans buy through Radiant.

[KevShmev]

I’m assuming it’s going to be sold through Radiant, which is Neal’s own label and website. If they sell it on Amazon or to other outlets I’m sure the cut would be smaller, but I’m guessing a good portion of Morse’s fans buy through Radiant.

In other words, fans will pre-order it in June, the official release will remain July 24th, and then the majority of fans who ordered it from Radiant will get it in the mail in September.

[bosk1]

[faizoff]

I don't mind the album of covers, they tend to kind of have a life of their own with the band's signature.

On another unrelated note, how do you guys tag the two phases of the music of Neal Morse, everything since The Grand Experiment is offiically tagged as The Neal Morse Band  but me personally I have everything labeled as Neal Morse. I have all the releases under one folder as well.
Actually should add this to the Neal Morse thread.

[Stadler]

Not one taker on the cover discussion? There was a time when if that cover came out we would debate the weave on the REAL carpet in the photo, or the gauge of the strings on the guitar.  I think that alone sort of tells the story right there.

[Buddyhunter1]

I assume that guitar is an actual model and not just a crappy photoshop job but it's ugly as hell

[HOF]

Not one taker on the cover discussion? There was a time when if that cover came out we would debate the weave on the REAL carpet in the photo, or the gauge of the strings on the guitar.  I think that alone sort of tells the story right there.

Heh. Yeah, the search for NUGGETZ used to be a thing.

As for the Tempted image, maybe the stiletto shoe?

[bosk1]

It used to be a thing for Dream Theater albums.  I don't remember it ever really being much of a thing for side projects.

[emtee]

The man likes covers. Always has. Only covers I own are from BC&SL.

[MinistroRaven]

So..cover album? Seriously?

That's nothing wait for the bomb that's going to be launched next Friday

[Stadler]

So..cover album? Seriously?

That's nothing wait for the bomb that's going to be launched next Friday

Oh, no.   That British covers album I joked about with Barney Greenway and Nick Bowcott IS happening isn't it.  ISN'T IT!??